Harrahs Casino in Council Bluffs.
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission approved four agreements for online sports gambling for properties in Council Bluffs.
Racing and Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says it will be a new option in the area. “Up until this point, there has not been an online wagering option in the Council Bluffs market,” Ohorilko says. That area does get a lot of traffic from across the border — but Ohorilko says online gambling has to be done in Iowa.
“If you are a resident out of state — you could establish an account anywhere — but those wagers cannot take place until the customer is in the borders of the state,” Ohorilko explains. “Every one of these online sports wagering companies have sophisticated geolocation technology that blocks wagers outside of the state. So a customer that may live in Omaha for example, they could establish an account, but they couldn’t use that account until they drove into the state of Iowa. And then at that point, those customers can wager and those accounts would be activated.”
Ohorilko says it something different for those who have had to place sports bets in the on-site betting parlors at the casinos.
Possibly could make it more convenient for a lot of these customers who could have these accounts established,” Ohorilko says.
The state saw a record $72 million wagered on sports in September.
(Photo from Harrahs website)